The seven things you need to know about pancake day

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In 2010, researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology created a robotic arm that could learn how to flip pancakes. Petar Kormushev and Sylvian Calinon first of all showed the robotic arm, created by Barrett Technology, the required technique using a fake pancake covered in sensors. Having demonstrated the technique a few times, the robot practiced until it honed its pancake-flipping skills.

The first recorded pancake race took place in Olney in Buckinghamshire in 1445. The story goes that when the church bells rang for the Shrove Tuesday service, a housewife wasn't finished grilling her pancakes. Not wishing to ruin them, she ran to church with her pan in hand. Now women in Olney compete in an annual 415-yard race.

Photographer Hionori Akutagawa made his pet rabbit famous between 1999 and 2003 by balancing a range of food and household items on its head. One such item placed on Oolong the rabbit's head was a pancake, leading to the nickname "The Pancake Bunny". The picture quickly became an internet meme, accompanied by the caption: "I have no idea what you're talking about... so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head."

The most watched pancake-related video on YouTube is entitled Pingu's Pancakes and features Pingu and family - you guessed it - making pancakes. At the time of writing it had just over 7 million views.

The Flexpicker, developed by ABB Robotics, is a pancake sorter commissioned by Honeytop that can sort 400 per minute. The robot was used to improve hygiene standards and reduce labour costs. The spider-like system picks and sorts through thousands of pancakes with incredible precision. Check out the video here.

An alternative Pancake Day dish in Scotland is a 'festy cock' made by rolling out a ball of finely ground oatmeal and folding it into a rough bird shape before baking and eating as a substitute for a cockrel on Shrove Tuesday. The word festy is linked to Feastern's Een, the day before Shrove Tuesday, when cock fighting took place.

With Shrove Tuesday upon us, Wired.co.uk obviously had a moral obligation to gather together seven of the best pancake-related facts.

So we did, and they include pancake-flipping robots, pancake-wearing rabbits and Pingu. Are you excited? You better be excited.

1. Pancake-flipping robot

In 2010, researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology created a robotic arm that could learn how to flip pancakes. Petar Kormushev and Sylvian Calinon first of all showed the robotic arm, created by Barrett Technology, the required technique using a fake pancake covered in sensors. Having demonstrated the technique a few times, the robot practiced until it honed its pancake-flipping skills.

2. Pingu's Pancakes

The most watched pancake-related video on YouTube is entitled Pingu's Pancakes and features Pingu and family -- you guessed it -- making pancakes. At the time of writing it had just over 7 million views*.

3. Manc-cake

The world's largest pancake measured 49ft 3in in diameter and weighed in at 2.95 tonnes. It was made, and apparently flipped, in Rochdale, near Manchester.

4. Early racing

The first recorded pancake race took place in Olney in Buckinghamshire in 1445. The story goes that when the church bells rang for the Shrove Tuesday service, a housewife wasn't finished grilling her pancakes.

Not wishing to ruin them, she ran to church with her pan in hand.

Now women in Olney compete in an annual 415 yard (380m) race.

5. The Pancake Bunny

Photographer Hionori Akutagawa made his pet rabbit famous between 1999 and his death in 2003 by balancing a range of food and household items on its head. One such item placed on Oolong the rabbit's head was a pancake, leading to the nickname "The Pancake Bunny". The picture quickly became an internet meme, accompanied by the caption: "I have no idea what you're talking about... so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head."

6. The fearsome Flexpicker

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The Flexpicker, developed by ABB Robotics, is a pancake sorter commissioned by Honeytop that can sort 400 per minute. The robot was used to improve hygiene standards and reduce labour costs. The spider-like system picks through thousands of pancakes and places them into stacks with incredible precision. Check out the video here.

7. Festy cock

An alternative Pancake Day dish in Scotland is a "festy cock" made by rolling out a ball of finely ground oatmeal and folding it into a rough bird shape before baking and eating as a substitute for a cockrel on Shrove Tuesday. The word festy is linked to Festern's E'en, the day before Shrove Tuesday, when cock fighting took place.

*Wired.co.uk searched for the word "pancake" and sorted by views. This was the most viewed video that was directly related to pancakes.